A FREE MARKET IN LAND.

A FREE MARKET IN LAND. In the essay on the American idea that I posted on yesterday, Tom Wolfe celebrates the Homestead Act of 1862 as an example of “pell-mell,” a first-come first served approach. The United States government gave away vast areas in the Western territories– 160 acres at a time–to the first person who claimed the 160 acres. Wolfe quotes the British historian Paul Johnson as saying that this statute gave Americans “the immense benefits of having a free market in land–something that never before occurred at any time anywhere in the world.'”